After TFC released their Hercules combiner in 2011, other companies joined the bandwagon and produced their own takes on the classic G1 combiners (or gestalts). TFC made Hercules (Devastator), Uranos (Superion), and Prometheus (Defensor). Fansproject made Intimidator (Menasor), Maketoys made Quantron (Computron), and Unique Toys Made Ordin (Abominus). However, no established company would release a toy of the Combaticon combiner, Bruticus. Enter Warbotron. Warbotron was a new company in the world of third party Transformers, and as their first endeavor, they decided to produce a toy of Bruticus, which was going to be called WB01. The first member to be released was Air Burst, Warbotron's take on the character of Blast Off.

Air Burst's box comes in a silver slipcase, which has a dark gray image of Air Burst and a light gray image of the Combined WB01. The box also has a white Warbotron logo on it, but it can be hard to see at certain angles.

The image of WB01 actually wraps around the side of the slipcase. The Warbotron logo is also more visible from this angle.

The back of the slipcase displays an image of a destroyed building along with a partial view of the legs of WB01.

The other side of the box just has a dark gray Warbotron logo.

Air Burst is packaged in this nice brown window box. The toy is covered by two layers of plastic and is slightly obscured. The box features art of Air Burst in space.

Like the image of WB01, the art of Air Burst continues on the side of the box.

On the back of the box, the same image of Air burst appears (this time in black). It is joined by lineart of Air Burst's space shuttle and robot forms. Contact information and the fact that contents may vary appear at the bottom.

The side of the box features a picture of Air Burst, and some information. Note the misspellings of “sergeant” and “armed”.

The bottom of the box displays the Warbotron logo, the country of Manufacture, warning information, and the address of the Warbotron website.

Air Burst comes with a comic book (that has instructions) and a card. They both display the same image of Air burst on them.

The back of the comic has the lineart version of the same image.

When removed from the box, Air Burst's tray seems sparsely packed (The top of the tray has been removed in this image). It includes the Air Burst robot, two pistols, and two missile launchers.

In shuttle mode, Air Burst is light brown with dark brown wings and fins and purple accents. The nosecone also is molded in brown. Air Burst's pistols mount onto the sides of the shuttle. On the bottom, retractable landing gear can be seen on the purple section of the shuttle.

Air burst is larger than both G1 Blast Off and Fall of Cybertron Blast Off. The brown used is also lighter than that of the G1 toy.

When Transforming Air Burst, it is important to note that half of the rear end of the shuttle must be removed.

In robot mode, Air burst is light brown with a purple chest and dark brown thighs and upper arms. Most of the front of the shuttle transforms into two large epaulets (or shoulder pads). The proportions are quite nice, and the robot mode has very few visible shuttle parts (at least on the front).

Air Burst is also quite posable and can do various standing and crouching poses, such as this one.

Air Burst also has a ball jointed neck and a waist swivel. His head slightly resembles Optimus Prime (it has mouthplate, antennas, and head crest). It is also important to note that the landing gears are hard to take out when fully closed, so they are left slightly open in this picture.

For weapons, Air Burst comes with two pistols and two missile launchers (made out of the rear section of the shuttle).

The missile launchers feature fold-out handles that allow Air Burst to hold them in his hands.

However, the box shows the pistols in the hands and the missile launchers attached to Air Burst's forearms.

The missile launchers can be attached to Air Burst's legs for a more G1 look. This also prevents his arms from looking wide in certain poses.

Thanks to Air Burst's articulation, he can recreate the pose depicted on the box art just fine.

Despite looking clean from the front, Air Burst has some kibble on the back from the shuttle nose, cockpit window, and shuttle panels. However, this kibble can be positioned so that it is almost invisible from the front.

Compared to other Blast Off figures, Air Burst is clearly superior. Air Burst is larger than both Fall of Cybertron Blast Off and G1 Blast Off. Air Burst's robot mode is clearly G1 Blast Off, but the details are much sharper (such as the head and chest detailing). Air Burst's brown is much lighter than G1 Blast Off's (and Combiner Wars Blast Off's), and can be compared to Unite Warriors Blast Off's brown. Air Burst also seems to take a few cues from Fall of Cybertron Blast off (the twin pistols and epaulets).

Air Burst is a great G1-Inspired third party Blast Off. As a standalone figure, Air burst features great articulation, and looks excellent. The only gripe that some people might have is the fact that part of the rear section of the shuttle must be removed, but since the section transforms into missile launchers, it is not that much of a big deal for me. However, Air Burst is not perfect, as some flaws will surface when he becomes the arm of WB01.

Comments

"However, no established company would release a toy of the Combaticon combiner, Bruticus." Don't forget that FansProject released the Colossus set with Swindle (Munitioner) and Blast Off (Explorer). Although this wasn't a full set of five figures, it was the first third party Bruticus available. The two figures are actually pretty great.

Awesome to see someone reviewing the Warbotron series. Are you going to do the whole set or just this one?

I keep debating with myself about getting their Not-Computron, seeing as I just bought a Quantron set on discount and it still cost me an arm and a leg literally. MetalStorm and Celeritas both had broken parts that I'm getting replacements for.